Cook County’s tax system is driving businesses, residents away
To the surprise of no one, Cook County property taxes went up again.
Residential property tax bills surged 78% on a typical home between 2007 and 2024, while property values inched up just 7.3%. That equates to $2,558 more annually with little in the way of improved or additional government services to show for it. Business property owners in 2024 saw a 47.7% increase in commercial tax rates billed since 2006, while only getting a 5.5% increase in the median market value.
Landlords pass steep tax increases on to residents and businesses in the form of higher rents. Businesses pass them on to consumers through higher prices.
As a result, the already frosty business environment in the Chicago region gets chillier, and living and operating in Cook County becomes untenable. It’s time Illinois lawmakers worked to reduce the growing tax burden, and recent referendums indicate voters agree.
Nearly 3 in 5 Illinoisans believe the value of public services they receive are not worth the property taxes they pay, which are the second highest in the nation and more than double the national average. Cook County ranks among America’s 100 most expensive locations for property taxes, with residents paying more than homeowners in Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana and South Carolina combined.
For every business considering expanding or relocating, or every resident hoping to build a life, these tax rates serve as a warning sign. Why invest in Cook County when neighboring states offer significantly lower costs to live and operate?
Behind these too-high taxes lie pension obligations and unfunded mandates. Local pension debt has risen to $75 billion. Since 2006, a little over a quarter of Cook County property tax increases — or about $665 for the median household — went to pensions. Payments to the five state-run pension systems have $144 billion in unfunded liabilities, even though tax dollars shoveled into them have increased 20-fold from $614 million in 1996 to $11.2 billion in 2025. That surge has crowded out funding that could have been used for public services or to tamp down property taxes.
Voters in multiple townships recently showed their frustration with the pension costs that drive their growing property tax bills. In April’s consolidated elections, voters in Palatine, Lemont, Homer, Palos and Winfield townships all approved nonbinding advisory questions for constitutional pension reform “to protect workers’ existing retirements and generate savings which could provide property tax relief.”
Voters in seven townships indicated their disapproval of unfunded mandates — those costly demands from Springfield without funding to carry them out. These mandates force local governments to raise property and other taxes or cut services for residents.
In the past six months, Chicago-area residents cast roughly 100,000 votes in favor of reform. All reform advisory questions saw 3-1 margins.
It’s time lawmakers act.
They can start by pushing for a pension reform plan that could address the underlying structural issues our state faces. Such reforms would adjust future, not-yet-earned benefits while protecting those benefits already earned. This approach could stabilize the growth in unfunded pension liabilities and provide stability and certainty to Illinois businesses and residents struggling with constant tax increases. Illinois also could allow public workers to opt into a defined contribution-type retirement system, more like a 401(k), instead of relying solely on the state’s troubled pension system.
State lawmakers can quickly fix the issue of unfunded mandates by ceasing to issue them.
Now that constituents have loudly stated how they feel, will state lawmakers address the tax environment that threatens to drive away more residents and businesses? If representatives in Springfield ignore them, Illinoisans in more and more towns will lose their friends and neighbors to more tax-friendly states.
The township ballot results show voters understand what’s at stake. Now it’s up to Springfield to listen and lead.
• Matt Paprocki is the president and CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute.